The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 233

"1111 ITT by Donna L. Barstow Honiara's Menu Mies a Turn to tJuevo Latino The force behind change from French bistro food is owner Ardolina, who also has new chef. mil! nxn( Artichokes The celebrated edible thistle In many delicious manifestations: More: It's never on the menu, but it's always available if you ask for it a wonderful, juicy salad made with mixed baby lettuces, arugula, baby artichokes, shaved Parmesan cheese and a refreshing lemon dressing. (Artichoke salad: appetizer, entree, $8.75. Moro, 11400 W.

Olympic West Los Angeles, (310) 575-3530. Modo Mlo: This pretty Italian restaurant serves an impeccable version of the classic salad: slivered baby artichokes, high-quality shaved Parmesan, lemon and extra virgin olive oil. (Artichoke salad, $9.) ModoMio, 15200 Sunset Suite 106, Pacific Palisades, (310) 459-0979. Hollywood Canteen: The classic baby artichoke salad can be had at this popular studio-adjacent lunch room. (Artichoke salad, $8.50.) Hollywood Canteen, 1006 N.

Seward Hollywood, (213) 465-0961. ArtoPalato: Artichokes aUa Romano are stuffed with bread crumbs and seasonings then baked with white wine, olive oil and mentuccia Romana, a wild mint from Italy's hillsides that is supplied to the restaurant by the manager's mother. (Artichokes alia Romana, $7.) Alto Potato, 755 N. La Cienega West Hollywood, (310) 657-9271. Ago: At this spanking new restaurant, chef Agostino Sciandri -improves on the basic salad by scattering toasted walnuts on a bed of slivered baby chokes, then covering both with thin sheets of excellent Parmesaa (Artichoke salad, $9.

Ago, 8478 Melrose West Hollywood, (213) 655-6333. 555 East: Artichokes are quartered, marinated in herbs and garlic, parboiled with oranges, then grilled and served with basil aioli. (Grilled artichokes, $6.95. 555 East, 555 E. Ocean Long Beach, (562) 437-0626.

Chez Gilles: Artichokes grow very well in Brittany, the birthplace of chef Gilles who cooks with (viz. money) pumped back into it. Major renovations are taking place inside 9291 Burton Way and the feel is supposed to be Zen-like; lots of talk about less being more. In charge of making this philosophy work are Three Architecture of Dallas and interior designer Chhada Siembieda of Long Beach. The lifeblood is coming from the French hotel and travel company Immobilize Hoteltere, in association with Colony Capital in Los Angeles and other partners.

Yes, there will be a restaurant. Serge Falesitch, formerly of Eclipse, will be in charge. (No shocker: He worked for L'Ermi-tage Hotel from 1990-91.) He'll continue with his Cuisine of the Sun concept, mingling tastes from the French Riviera with Tuscan dishes, plus a little Thai cuisine on the side. No menu yet. The formal dining room is being built downstairs, and a stone oven is being installed in the kitchen so Falesitch can roast whole fish.

Guests will be able to eat either downstairs, on the rooftop around the pool, in the library (at tea time) or in their rooms (around the clock). Director of development Claude Amar promises elegant and attentive room service want people to enjoy the magic of our chef in their but at the same time the dining room will be kind of casual will not have gold on the Hotel and restaurant are slated to open in February. The Return of Milman. Michael's has snagged its favorite chef back from the jaws of the hotel industry. Chef Chris Milman (whose career RESTAURANT NEWS BY ANGELA PETTERA SPECIAL TO THE TIMES Adios, Bistro.

If you go to Xiomara Restaurant in Pasadena, forget about French bistro food. Owner Xiomara Ardolina has moved forward with the nuevo Latino cuisine that she and recently departed executive chef Patrick Healy showcased in the back room (which they named "It's the first time in 20 years that I decided to let the French cuisine go," says Cuban-born Ardolina, "but I really believe in this idea." The idea in question is upscale Latin American cuisine with French technical underpinnings, like what's being served at Yuca in Miami and Patria in New York. The chef who will carry this out won't be Healy, however. "I'm here at the Buffalo Club and working on other projects," Healy says, "so I didn't have time to do it" Chef duties will belong to Pedro Deona, an American-born chef of Cuban background. Under Ardolina's supervision, Deona has created a new menu featuring dishes from Spain, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia as well as Cuba.

It's a menu full of yucca, chorizo, blue potatoes and plantains. We're talking empanadas, skirt steak, paella (with or without seafood) and salmon in chimichurri sauce. Xiomara Restaurant, 69 N. Raymond Pasadena; (818) 796-2520. The French Resurrection.

L'Ermi-tage Hotel in Beverly Hills, which closed four years ago, is having life also includes stints at Citrus, Patina, Spago and L'Orangerie) left the Santa Monica pioneer of California Cuisine a year and a half ago to run The Chez in the Beverly Prescott Hotel. His conclusion is the same that many restaurant chefs come to: "It was my first hotel experience and it will probably be my last." When Michael McCarty asked him back to his old haunt, he accepted immediately. Among other reasons for wanting to return is the fact that Michael's pastry chef, Dorte Lambert-Mil-man, happens to be his wife. Sous chef Catalino Echeverria, who stepped up to the chef spot when Milman left, now steps back to sous position. Eat Up, Party Down.

In the last month or two, there's been a lot of talk about a new wave of supper clubs that feature dining and dancing. Now one's about to open, around Sept. 23. Millennium will be the new kid on the 9000 block of Sunset Boulevard. The chef is David Slay, who used to own David Slay's La Veranda in Beverly Hills.

His menu features nondenomina- the old days, but now he's got tables, good tables, to pass out to all and sundry. At least for the moment Word is, now that the newness of Spago Beverly Hills has worn off, the old faithful are beginning to show up at the old place for their pizzas and pastas and the familiar Spago fare. The high-energy glamour of the new location is a lure on some occasions, but on others, they'd just like something more relaxing. A place where you can go on the spur of the moment. Tables aren't as jammed together as they once were.

There's actually some elbow room, which makes the place much more comfortable. Gina DeCew, who helped open virrrtTHte? tional specials like salmon quesa-dillas with cream cheese, Chilean sea bass with white beans and rack of lamb with chile mint au jus. Dancing begins at 11 p.m. in the lounge. Millennium, 9229 Sunset Los Angeles; (310) 271-8355.

The Hong Kong Cook-Over. On Sept 25, Obachine will present a special prix-fixe dinner cooked by two chefs from the Regent Hong Kong. Wolfgang Puck invited them to cook at his Meals on Wheels fund-raiser, so they decided to whip up a little something at Obachine on the way. Executive chef Christof Syre (originally from Germany) and executive Chinese chef Cheung Kamchuen will be serving sauteed prawns in black bean sauce, crustacean broth, stir-fried beef, baby snapper and red bean ice cream (hey, think of the fiber). Cost is $65, plus tax and tip per person; dinner starts at 5:30 p.m..

Call (310) 274-4440 for reservations. Obachine, 242 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly (310) 274-4440. Granita and has cooked at Coyote Cafe in Santa Fe and in Austin, Texas, is back at Spago Hollywood, where she did her extern-ship from the CIA (that's the Culinary Institute of America) in New York. She's writing her first menu with the help of Jennifer Jasinski, just back from France after a stint at Granita.

It could be the start of a whole new era at Spago Hollywood. BE THERE Spago Hollywood, 1114 Horn Ave. (at Sunset Boulevard), West Hollywood, (310) 652-4025. Open daily for dinner. Major credit cards accepted.

Valet parking. Appetizers $10.50 to entrees $19.50 to $32.50. Elbow Room Returns to Spago Hollywood A side benefit of the Beverly Hills operation is that seating is now available at the original location. them often. He constructs a pleasingly balanced cold appetizer with asparagus, artichoke hearts, mozzarella and balsamic dressing.

I Some days, there is a delicious artichoke soup, and on his new fall menu, roasted baby artichokes are served on John Dory. Artichoke soup, artichoke and asparagus appetizer, $14; John Dory with artichokes, $27. Chez Gilles, 267 S. Beverly Drive, Beverly HiUs, (310) 276-1558. put on hold for only a couple of minutes and without giving my name) I was politely told the restaurant does not take reservations between 7 and 9 p.m.

(Read, they do not take reservations from mere mortals between 7 and 9 p.m.). Seatings for everyone but the A-list are at 5, 5:30, 6 and 6:30 p.m. or else 9, 9:30 and 10 p.m. Checking the reservation book, my phone buddy told me he could give me a table on Friday, Oct. 3, say, at 6 or 9:30 p.m.

or on Oct 26 at 5:30 or 10 p.m. But at the original Spago in West Hollywood, you can now hallelujah! pretty much waltz on in any weekday without a reservation. Maitre d' Michael Dargin mans the door just like in FIRST IMPRESSIONS BY S. IRENE VIRBILA TIMES RESTAURANT CRITIC When you call the Spago Hollywood number early enough in the day that the dinner-only restaurant isn't answering the phone yet, a voice answers, "Hello, you have reached the original Spago in Hollywood. Yes, we are still open for business," and gives the address on Horn Avenue, continuing, "If you would like to reach Spago Beverly Hills, you need to dial (310) 385-0880." Where, it happens, when I checked Wednesday (after being i.

Pi LOS ANGELES TIMES WEEKEND WEST LA'S LARGEST OUTDOOR CONCERT ft FOOD TASTING PARTY ml FESTIVAL WILSKISE VETERAN SEPT 2T SO 1-888-97-GARLIC THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 18. 1997 43.